Recently I booked a trip to Paris for my best friend and I as she just turned 18. Looking through photos from old trips has made me incredibly excited, and as I've never written a blogpost on Paris, I thought why not?

As someone who doesn't speak much French, the idea of travelling without my fluent mother terrifies me. However, I am beyond excited to go and get even more shots, hopefully better than last time!

Shannon

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"you're not sorry."

"it wasn't okay."

"you're right."

"i'm not okay."

"i don't understand."

"yeah okay, i'll be there soon."

"i need help."

"i want you to stop talking to me."

"i'm not a doormat."

"no." 

"no."

"no."

"yes."

X

Just a quick unedited look at my trip to Germany's astounding capital city; Berlin!

While being a tourist and seeing all the cliche things was fun and really interesting, as shown by the vast amount of photos I took, I also managed to see an old friend and go to one of the coolest bars I've been to. The setup was like a chemistry lab down to the decor of periodic tables of alcohol and the measuring flasks full of alcohol. If you're ever in Berlin and want to check it out, the website is www.zyankali.de 

((I also think their alcohol is 10x stronger than normal alcohol as one cocktail made me slightly lightheaded, just as an extra word of warning!;)))

Berlin is definitely a city I need to go back to as it is full of so much more I didn't get to see or do.

Thanks for reading,

Shannon

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This week has not been a huge make up or fashion week and I have stuck to what I know I love mainly. However, I have been through my stash and found two things I forgot I owned, and now have fallen in love with again; the Loreal Colour Riche nail polish in 851 Nouvelle Vague, which I'm sure I talked about in one of my first blog posts, and a E. Funkhouser blush in Nouveau Chic. The nail polish is a pale lavender shade and one that I love for summer. It does take two or three coats to become opaque due to the paleness of it, but does last at least three days without chipping, which for me is a record. The packaging is also nice and small, making it great for travel to top up on if needed. 

 The blush is a pink toned blush, with high pigmentation. It is very finely milled and easy to blend and adds a pop of colour without making you look sweaty. It's an incredibly flattering shade and again one I love for summer as it warms up the complexion. 

When Daredevil was released on Netflix, I was in the midst of exam revision and so didn't let myself even look at the trailer for the show. However, now that exams are over, I binge watched the entire season in less than 24 hours and have fallen completely and utterly in love. As a self confessed Marvel fangirl whilst also loving darker, more gritty character and plot developments, this was right up my street and I really enjoyed it. I fell in love with Matt Murdock and the complexity his character was given through both the writing and the acting and Charlie Cox can be commended for the talent he brought to the role. I am beyond excited for series two and my only disappointment is that it won't come sooner!

A music favourite of mine for the last few weeks, but this week in particular has been Flatsound. I found him through listening to other spoken word artists and have fallen in love with his acoustic/lo-fi sound and his words. Favourites of mine include 'i exist i exist i exist', 'you had a panic attack in my bathroom' and 'saturday dec 14 2013'. While some of his words really expose raw nerves and cut a little too close to home for me, his music makes me feel calm and really helps with writing and just thinking for a little while. His music has introduced me to a whole new genre that I have fallen in love with and now want to explore it much further. 

his music; https://soundcloud.com/flatsound

That's all for this week's favourites! Next week's should be interesting as I'm off to Ireland, so I'll see what it offers me.

Thanks for reading.

Shannon.

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I am a lipstick addict.
My family have noticed, my friends stage interventions to stop me from buying more, but my collection is unashamedly still growing strong. However, there are few in my collection I wear on a regular basis and fewer that are my absolute go to for travel or day to day wear. 


The first of these lipstick is the Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Boy. This is a recent purchase, picking it up in the Duty Free on the way back from Berlin, and I have fallen in love. It gives a sheer colour pay off but it still adds a little something to your lips, making it an ideal your lips but better shade. It is also incredibly easy to apply due to its creaminess, making it an ideal daywear lipstick as touch ups are incredibly easy. 

The next is Velvet Teddy by Mac. There isn't much I can say about this that hasn't been said already, only that if I want something a bit more sophisticated than Boy, but still neutral, this is the ideal choice. It's extremely long lasting due to the matte finish and compliments my skin tone nicely, leaving it again a great choice for day to day wear. 

The final one in my trio is again Mac, in the shade Sin. I am a sucker for dark gothic lips, even in the summertime, and this fulfills all my goth lip needs. It's a matte finish which I find essential for dark lips, and so long lasting it can be worn throughout meals and still look okay after. The only issue I find with this is that I can't wear it every day due to it being drying to my lips, but for going out and nighttime wear, I love it a lot and find it hard to beat!

I hope you enjoyed my post on my favourite lipsticks and maybe one of them caught your eye to pick up! 

Shannon

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I'd like to start this post with two statements. Number 1; I am not here to explain to you why black lives matter. If you need that explaining to you, well, I don't have the time for you. Number 2 is that I am a white female, I do not experience this oppression first hand, and that is why I am not going to write about it in a personal way. However, what I am seeing both online and in traditional media is slightly scaring me, and so I am here to discuss why I personally believe that #blacklivesmatter has to be the trending hashtag, not #alllivesmatter. 

Let's start with some stats;

Black suspects are killed twice a week in America by white policemen.

An analysis of FBI data over 7 years shows that one quarter of the 400 annual deaths are white on black shooting. 

18% of black suspects were under 21, in comparison to just 8.7% white suspects.

In Ferguson in 2013, 92% of all people arrested were black. The community as a whole is 63% black. 

The Urban Institute estimates that white on black homicides in regards to Stand Your Ground laws are 354% more likely to be ruled justifiable than white on white.

In short, in America at least, black lives seem to mean less to officials. 

So, do all lives really matter? Of course they do. But that's not the point. 

The entire point of the #blacklivesmatter hashtag is to fight against the oppression that people face just for their skin colour. It is to show to the people oppressing and the people standing back and doing nothing that they are fighting against this regime in order for their lives to actually matter in the eyes of the law. #alllivesmatter is about white people not feeling included in a fight that was never theirs to begin with. It does not introduce segregation, it shows the fight for equality and it needs much more support as a movement from everyone. It is to prove that black lives DO matter, and that we as a global nation cannot keep letting racist crimes, be it by the police, courts or ordinary citizens, keep going. 

I hope this may have cleared things up for you if you didn't understand or see the difference between the two tags beforehand. 

I think I've found a new favourite film. I also think it is not going to move from this position. Ever.

Reviewing films/books/any other thing I could talk about is something I've wanted to try for a while, and so I thought why not start with something I loved, so here we go!

For those who are unaware, Boyhood is a coming of age film about a boy named Mason and follows his life from a small child up until leaving for college. The thing that is so interesting and unique about this film is the fact that every single character was played by the same person over a twelve year period, so these actors and characters really were growing up on screen. 

I have an undeniable interest and love for films that show people as people instead of an ideal character that the audience cannot reach, and I believe that every character is real and relatable. We see struggles the family go through, and how these develop the characters and their attitudes to life without it delving into melodrama or unnecessary issues or pain being brought up. It stays very close to truth and realism which just adds to the relatability.

Another way it stays close to realism is the fact that all the different topics covered were filmed in real time and so things such as the Harry Potter book being released and the rise in social media all coincided with my age at that time. It let me reminisce on times in my childhood that I maybe had forgotten about, for example the excitement every time a new Harry Potter was released, and it was refreshing to see it captured in film form. It also struck a chord with me in regards to Mason's later years of high school, with his interest in photography and yet not working hard enough in class and his relationship, and it truly felt like I had stopped watching a film and instead was just watching a boy grow up into the person he wanted to be.

The way the film ended filled me with a lot of hope and genuinely made me happier. I will not delve into too much detail of the plot just in case I spoil it, but as someone who does fear the future and the fact I still have no clue what to do in further education, the end made me realise a few things.

I can see why this film has generically amazing reviews, but can also see how some people can see the lack of appeal. It is almost three hours and if realistic films are not to your fancy you may find it incredibly boring, but I find everything from the editing and cinematography to the performances and soundtrack perfect and I really do respect how twelve years of work added together to create a truly realistic and inspiring piece of film. 

xx